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Over Objections of Obama Administration, Federal Appeals Court Overturns Saudi Immunity, Allows Lawsuits against Kingdom To Proceed
21 December 2013
(EIRNS)—The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit yesterday overturned a 2005 Federal Court decision that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) was immune from civil lawsuits arising from the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, allowing the 9/11 families and insurance companies to resume their lawsuit against the Kingdom. The KSA, various Saudi royals, and the Saudi High Commission, a government-established "charity," were dismissed as defendants in 2005 by U.S. District Judge Richard Conway Casey, who said the government’s support for Islamist "charities" that supported al-Qaeda did not make it responsible for 9/11. The Obama Administration intervened in the case to support the Kingdom, filing a brief in 2009 arguing for sovereign immunity for the Kingdom. However, on Feb. 19, the Appeals Court, holding that "the circumstances of this case are "extraordinary," reversed the district court ruling, and sent the case back to the lower court "for further proceedings consistent with this opinion." The New York Daily News reports that a spokesman for the 9/11 families said Saudi Arabia and the Saudi High Commission knowingly provided al-Qaeda with funds and other support, that helped the terrorist group carry out the 9/11 attacks. "I’m ecstatic, because we have a lot of information and evidence," said William Doyle, whose son was killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center. "These people are getting off scot-free. They didn’t even get a slap on the wrist, and to this day we still have terrorism running rampant. We have to hold accountable the people who finance terrorism," Doyle added. Former U.S. Senators Bob Graham (D-Fla.) and Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.), who co-chaired the two major official investigations of the 9/11 atttacks, sumitted affidavits in this case in 2012, stating that a Saudi government agent, along with other Saudi officials, played a key role during the lead-up to the attacks. "I am convinced that there was a direct line between at least some of the terrorists who carried out the September 11th attacks and the government of Saudi Arabia," Graham said in his affidavit, citing, among other things, the San Diego case of The Second Circuit ruling comes just as there is heightened attention in Congress, and a breakout of media coverage, on the efforts to force the release of the censored 28 pages from Graham’s Congressional Joint Inquiry, which pages reportedly deal with Saudi financing and support for the 9/11 hijackers. [ews] |